Today, the same vine is a serious problem along many woodland edges in parts of the eastern U.S. According to a 2009 U.S. Forest Service review by Melissa Waggy, porcelain berry was brought into the northeastern U.S. in 1870 as a bedding and landscape plant.
Imagine a vine with berries in shades of lilac, green, and bright blue. It looks like something straight out of a storybook. That’s roughly why it was planted. Then it escaped from cultivation and began to grow wild.
Scientists looked at how this vine competes with other plants. Porcelain berry grew similarly in speed to native Virginia creeper and produced more flower clusters than any other plant among these three. The authors called it a troublesome weed that may add intense pressure from propagules, meaning seeds and other plant parts that can start new plants. Bushkiller, another invasive vine, was a tough competitor, the study found. The study was done in a greenhouse, so it doesn’t show exactly what happens in a forest, but it helps explain why porcelain berry deserves the attention.
In a 2013 study published in Invasive Plant Science and Management , Sherrie Emerine, Robert Richardson, and Consuelo Arellano grew cuttings of three vines separately and in combinations in a greenhouse.
Once the porcelain berry gets a foothold, it climbs over anything around it. It rises from shrubs and young trees and spreads its leaves on top of them. This blocks the sunlight needed by the plants below. If a plant doesn’t get enough light, it will grow poorly, or even die. Over time, a thick blanket of this single vine can choke out a variety of native plants. That loss also means less food and shelter that wildlife gets from native species .
